Chapter Quote:
"Thought you could leave without saying goodbye?"
~Brian O'Connor, Fast and Furious Seven
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Chapter 33

"I can't believe it's you," I breathed, holding my dad's hand in the hospital room as I waited for the rest of my family and team. Jace stood outside, giving the two of us privacy. After shooting Lynch, the adrenaline my dad had been running on disappeared quickly, and he collapsed on the spot. Jace and I rushed him to the hospital, letting Hobbs and Dom know what we were doing. We didn't tell them who, however. I thought we'd surprise him with that.

"I'm so sorry, Ember. I'm sorry I couldn't get to you," my dad whispered, his blue eyes welling with tears. "I'm sorry I never called you back."

"Why didn't you?"

"How could I face my daughter and tell her I failed to escape and come back to her and her mom? How could I tell her that I hadn't been able to rescue Jack from Lynch? I felt like a failure..."

"You could never be a failure to mom or to me. Besides, Jack is safe. He's in pretty bad condition right now, but he's going to be okay. I even talked to him, you know. He's going to be ecstatic when he finds out you're here. Not at the hospital, I mean, but alive. He's feared the worst since we hadn't heard from you. Although I guess you probably know that's what I meant. I'm rambling, aren't I?"

Dad smiled. "I missed your ramblings. I missed you. Words can never explain how much."

"Hey, Em? Sorry to interrupt, but your mom and uncle are here," Jace said, sticking his head into the room.

I turned to dad. "You ready to see them?"

He nodded at me, then at Jace. My boyfriend opened the door fully, and mom and Dom shoved their way in. I'd never seen the color drain out of their faces as quickly as it did in that moment. I got up from my chair, allowing them to move to his side.

"Br-Brian?" Mom stammered out, covering her mouth.

"Hi, Mia," dad replied softly. I sidled out of the room and into Jace's embrace. He kissed me on the top of my head while I heard my mom start bawling. If I wasn't mistaken, Dom was too. They weren't the only ones.

"I can't believe he's back," I whispered. "I can't believe he's alive."

"I've never even met the man until tonight, and I can't either," Jace said. "I know how much he meant to you, and I'm so happy you have your dad back."

"You get to meet him officially now. Considering you saved my life, I have a feeling he won't mind you dating me whatsoever."

"Oh god, I hope he doesn't have any issues with us dating. I think I might be more terrified of him than anyone else. I mean, the man broke out of a hospital, evaded capture for over a week, drove a car like a maniac, saved my life, saved your life, and all after being imprisoned for years. Seriously, if he can do that, I don't want to know what he could do to me."

"I wouldn't let him. Neither would mom or Dom."

"What's going on?!" Roman bellowed, interrupting our moment. We pulled away from each other as the rest of our group approached, except for Hobbs, who was overseeing Lynch's imprisonment.

I grabbed Jace's hand for support as I debated how to break the news to everyone. Roman, especially, had been close to my father. If anyone would take the announcement hard, it'd be him. Taking a deep breath, I said, "Dad's alive."

Silence followed for an uncomfortable amount of time as everyone processed what I'd just said. I waited for the chaos to erupt, but weirdly enough, they were all calm about it. Or maybe they were too shocked to be anything but calm and quiet.

"He's... Brian's alive?" Roman croaked.

I nodded. "Mom and Dom are with him now, but we can see if you can go in now."

"Please. For the love of God, please."

Jace stuck his head into the room once more. A quick, muffled conversation ensued, and when Jace pulled back, he opened the door, motioning for everyone to go in. We hurried out of the way to avoid being trampled. Once our family was in, Jace and I followed, watching the happy and tearful reunion.

Dad grinned at Roman and said, "Hey Rom, what took you so long? I thought for sure you'd be showing up with some chrome spinners or something."

Dom, Tej, and Roman all chuckled. It must've been an inside joke. Roman replied, "I thought you were doing another photo shoot."

"I used to be the prettiest blonde in the room until my daughter was born." Dad winked at me. I had no idea what he was talking about, but the other adults did.

"We have a lot of catching up to do, buster," Dom said.

Dad nodded. "I'm not going anywhere but home, so we have all the time in the world."

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One week later...

"Any word from Jack?" Dad asked, hopefully.

"No, not yet. I've reached out to him, and I've told him about you, but I haven't heard anything back," I said.

"... Is he alive?"

"He's definitely alive. I saw him yesterday. He doesn't know that, but I did. Let me go see if I can find him, and I'll convince him to come see you."

"Please. I want to see him." I nodded and left the room. Mom intercepted me on the way out.

"Hi sweetie, where are you going?"

"I was going to find Jackson," I replied, not wanting her to know the truth. It'd be too lengthy to explain right now, and my intuition told me my time was short. "I want to see how he's doing. Dad would like to meet him once he's able to walk."

"Send him my regards, and tell him I'll come see him soon. I just- your dad-"

"I know, mom. I know." She pulled me into a hug, conveying all her emotions in a single gesture. I'd been relieved when she hadn't gotten mad at me, Jace, Brandon, and Sam when she found out we suspected he was alive. None of them had been. Although I think my dad being awake and alive played a part in that.

When she released me, I headed towards the other wing of the hospital where they were keeping Jackson. Jack would be where he was. I passed Sam and Brandon on the way. They didn't see me, though. Both were deep in conversation about something. Wilson, Steve, and Bucky were in the cafeteria, pigging out on what appeared to be Chick-fil-a.

When I arrived at Jackson's room, I found it empty. The bed was unmade, and his crutches were gone. Frowning, I looked for the closest nurse to see if they knew where he went. One told me I'd just missed him, and that he was heading to the garden. I hurried off, wanting to catch him and make sure he wasn't making some grand escape because honestly? I could see him doing that.

Thankfully, as I reached the doors to the garden, I saw them closing behind him. I called out, "Jackson!"

Either he didn't hear me, or he pretended not to because he kept hobbling on his crutches. I ran after him, shouting his name again. Once more, he didn't listen to me, and I know he'd heard me. Coming to a halt, I decided to try a different tactic and shouted, "Jack!"

He froze in his tracks, hesitating for a moment before slowly turning around. Giving him a sympathetic smile, I simply said, "I know. I know it's you. I've known for a while."

"How- when-"

"I've known since the night we rescued you from Lynch. I had my suspicions, and Sam helped me run a DNA test using a blood sample."

"Sam knows too?"

I nodded. "I swore her to secrecy, though."

"Why did you never say anything?"

"I didn't think you wanted me to," I said, taking a couple cautious steps towards him. "You'd been so hell-bent on making everyone else believe that you and Jackson were a separate person... I just felt like if you wanted me to know, you would've told me. I didn't want to risk losing you if you found out I knew."

"You're never losing me again," he declared. We met halfway, hugging each other in bone-crushing grips. Silent tears streamed down my face as everything came crashing down on me. Not only was my dad back, but my brother was too. And they were here to stay. I'd kill anyone who tried to take them from me again.

"I'm not going to lie, I questioned the DNA tests until you called me Emmy," I admitted, pulling back to wipe away my tears.

Jack laughed, wiping away some tears of his own. "It slipped out. I hoped maybe you thought 'Jack' had called you that in front of me or something."

"If I hadn't known already, then maybe."

"I guess I should tell everyone..." he trailed off, fear flitting across his face. Silence hung in the air between us, until I asked, "Why didn't you tell us? I know you were always saying Jack wasn't ready, but why? What was so terrifying to you that convinced you not to tell us?"

Jack sat down on a bench, wincing in pain. I took a seat beside him, waiting patiently for an answer. He wrung his hands together, weighing his thoughts carefully before saying, "Because I was scared. I was scared that I wouldn't be who you were all expecting me to be. I've done some... really bad things in my life. I'm not going to lie, I've killed people before. They were always on Lynch's orders, and I never wanted to do it, but I was too much of a coward to fight back against him. I wanted to stay alive, so I could get dad out and find you and mom again."

"That's not cowardice. That's survival. You were doing what you had to in order to live. No one's going to criticize you for that."

He hung his head. "I wanted to make up for all the shitty stuff I've done in my life before I told anyone who I was because I thought maybe they wouldn't judge me as harshly then."

"We wouldn't judge you. We would just be happy you were alive and back, just like I am now, and just like I was when I discovered you were my brother. Whatever differences we have, we'll work them out."

"Lynch always judged everything I did, so I grew up thinking that way. It's hard to think of any other way. If I had to do it all over again, I would. Lynch wanted both of us that day he kidnapped me, and I'd be damned if I let him ever do anything to my sister."

"What do you mean?"

"Lynch wasn't nice to me when I was little. Especially in the beginning. He'd hit me. A lot. Sometimes to the point where I'd blackout." Jack fell quiet, seeming to recall those times. Meanwhile, fury rushed through my veins, and my hands balled into fists involuntarily. If I ever saw Lynch again, I'd kill him without hesitation.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered. "I know it won't change anything about what you went through, but I'm sorry you had to go through that alone."

"I'd rather go through it alone than see it happen to you too," he said. "Never think otherwise. Besides, knowing you had a good life, that's all that matters to me."

I smiled. "I have something for you, by the way."

Jack turned to look at me as I pulled something out of my jacket pocket: an old shark-tooth necklace. He grinned, taking it from me. "I can't believe you still have this."

"I went and picked it up yesterday. I figured if we ever found each other again, I'd give it to you. It was your favorite necklace back then."

"And it's my favorite now," he said, putting it on. Jack began fiddling with the shark-tooth. "I guess I should head up there. Rip the band-aid off."

"I'll be right next to you," I promised. Then realizing he may not want me to, I hastily added, "If you want me to."

"I definitely do. Come on." He stood up, and together, the two of us slowly made our way to dad's room. Jack took a deep breath before stepping inside. I trailed after him. To our surprise, Dom and Letty were there too. I thought they were still giving statements to the authorities about all that happened for the trial.

My family looked up at me, curiosity in their eyes. I glanced over at Jack, who seemed to have frozen in place at the sight of them all. Realizing he needed some help, I sidled up next to him and said, "Everyone, I'd like to re-introduce someone to you."